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LOVE – A NEW COMMANDMENT Page 1 ashleyschubert.com

If Christians were asked the question “Which commandments do we live under today?” - most would answer “the ” or “the Two Greatest Commandments – love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.” When said “A new commandment I give to you” - what was he referring to?

Matthew, Mark and Luke are the three Gospels that tells us about love and the commandments. (NKJV)

Matthew 22:35-40. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the in the law?” Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Mark 12:28-34 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Luke 10:25-28 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What it your reading of it? So he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” LOVE – A NEW COMMANDMENT Page 2 ashleyschubert.com

We can see from these scriptures that loving God and your neighbour are the greatest commandments in the Law. This is very significant. Jesus was speaking to Jewish people who were still under the Law. He said that he had not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17) He also said that the Law and the Prophets were until John (Baptist) and now the kingdom was being preached (Matt11:12, Lu 16:16) – signifying a change was in progress. The Law was about to become obsolete and a New was about to be introduced. Paul tells us we have become dead to the law (Rom7:4, Gal 2:19) and Christ is the end of the law (Rom10:4) and the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, and we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:24)

So where does “keeping the love commands” that were under the law, fit into the ?

As Jesus said, he didn't come to destroy the law (love commands) but to fulfill it. So by his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has not done away with “love God and your neighbour” - but has fulfilled it in Himself, and taken it to a higher level in the New Covenant.

Jesus first announced this higher level when he introduced a “new commandment.” :34,35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. :12,13 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

The new level for loving is now “to love as Christ loved.” This is impossible for man to do – that's why it could not be introduced under the Law. This new “love” is supernatural, and can only be outworked by supernatural power. That's why we have to be “re-born” and “re-created” a new creation in Christ – to be able to love as Christ loves. is not having Jesus Christ “added” to your life to improve it – rather it is death to your old life, and being raised with Christ to a brand new life – the life of Christ! This is the only way a person can truly love one another as Christ loved us.

1 :7-10 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you.....He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. LOVE – A NEW COMMANDMENT Page 3 ashleyschubert.com

1 :11,14-16 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death....by this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

The ultimate proof of this new love is to “love the brethren.” This love is defined by “laying down our lives.” This is a huge step up from “love your neighbour as yourself.” Now, the proof of our love for God is evidenced by humility, putting others first every time, being willing to die to self, willing to die for our brethren. This is truly supernatural. This can only be done by “Christ in us.”

1 :7-12 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God....In this the was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.....Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...... If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

So this is “perfect love” - God sent His Son into the world that we might “live through Him.” This love of God (agape) can only exist through Christ and by Christ – and we only love through “Christ in us.”

2 ,6 ….not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

From the beginning, God was wanting a people to walk in His love. Even though God commanded it through the law – it was not possible for man to do it. God provided a Saviour, Jesus, who fulfilled the law, perfectly pleased the Father, and died and rose again to impart the true love of God to us, through re-creating man with the new nature of Christ. This supernatural love is now “written on our hearts.”

No longer are we “trying” to love God more, or “working” at loving people better - now we are new creations in Christ, having been re-created with “agape” love as our new nature. We don't have to “strive” to love more, we just need to walk in the “perfect love” of Christ that is already on the inside. There is now only one commandment - “love as Christ loved” - and the on the inside empowers us to walk in it – supernaturally!